Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Z Nation, Season Two, Episode Fifteen: All Good Things Must Come to an End

When we last saw the intrepid scoobies, they had arrived at the co-ordinates in California. Unfortunately, it appears that all they found is a restaurant and no sign that this is a medical facility, let alone the last vestiges of the CDC. What they don't know is that Citizen Z is burning up the last of his battery to warn them that the location is compromised. After Vazquez and Warren check out the little diner, they wave the rest of the crew in. This is the last calm moment in this season finale.

It's not long before bounty hunters show up complete with a fake Murphy. When the impostors notice Murphy a gun fight breaks out. It's Auntie who brings an end to it all but unfortunately in the battle, 10K is wounded. Doc tries desperately to help 10K, as Auntie confirms Murphy's identity. Don't worry about 10K though, because Auntie is on the case. Auntie heads outside and uses a flare gun to signal a nuclear submarine which apparently has what remains of the CDC.

The cavalry arrives along with Doctor Merch and Murphy is filled with rage at the sight of the woman who medically experimented on him. 10K is to be taken to the submarine along with Murphy for medical treatment because his wound is more than Doc can handle. Cue the awkward goodbyes between Murphy and the scoobies. Warren does take the time to ask for a promise that Murphy will be treated humanely.

With Murphy gone, the team head back into the diner. They don't get long to reflect on their accomplishments because who should show up by La Reina and the rest of the Zeros. It seems that La Reina used Dr. Kurian's head to lead her to Murphy. The team is cornered in the diner and La Reina will not be pacified unless Warren, and the scoobies, hand over Murphy. Luckily for the scoobies, Auntie has a nice little cache of weapons to help them defend themselves. It's not long before we lose the awesome Auntie in the gun battle.

La Reina infiltrates the diner and heads into battle with Warren, who manages to hold her own for awhile. Warren is knocked on her back and La Reina is about to deal the death blow when Escorpion sneaks up on La Reina and shoves a stick through her brain. Bye Bye La Reina. It seems that because Vasquez didn't kill Escorpion, he has had a change of heart and gone through a redemption of sorts. Even for Z Nation, this is weird and unbelievable. Vasquez moves in for the kill and Warren intervenes, saying that Escorpion saved her life. Vasquez however is not moved, so the team head outside leaving Vasquez alone with Escorpion.

On the submarine, Murphy is quick to notice that something is wrong with the crew. Many of their eyes are a brilliant blue. It's then that Murphy learns about Zona, an island created but the rich and a few politicians that is zombie free. It seems that Scully's mission (yep, think back to the Roswell episode) was to return technology and precious art to Zona. The leaders of Zona are trying to save that which makes humans human. Murphy learns that the reason for the blue eyes is that the residents were given a zombie vaccine; however, it only holds off the virus and people eventually turn. The residents of Zona plan on making a new world order. Clearly this is the set up for season three.

Murphy is taken into the hold where Dr. Merch draws some blood and begins to ask questions. Murphy asks for privacy, so Merch sends the guards away. Murphy is quick to confront Merch the moment they are alone and accuses her of being no different than Dr. Kurian.

When next we see Murphy, he is on a boat heading back to land. On board are Murphy, a few soldiers and Doctor Merch. It seems that Murphy got off the submarine by biting his captors because bite marks are clearly visible on their faces. On land, the team desperately look for an sign of 10K. Oh Oh. We see 10K sit up shortly before the submarine explodes.

In the arctic, Citizen Z has decided to leave his strong hold. He walks into the icy snow and stops when he sees someone coming towards him.

Back in California, two planes fly overhead and Warren is quick to identify that these planes are not American in origin. The team quickly finds themselves surrounded by heavily armed soldiers.

We are then cut to a scene where a little girl is having a tea party with zombies. Yep, that's got to be Murphy's daughter.

That brings us to the end of yet another ridiculous season of Z Nation. It seems that this show is the anti- The Walking Dead. At times it takes itself very seriously, like Murphy's despair over the zombies being run into the Grand Canyon and at other times, it's absolutely ridiculous, like when it chose to have zombie George R R Martin signing copies of his books. After two seasons, I'm still not sure how to take Z Nation.

Despite all of the sometimes glorious cheese, there were a few problematic moments this season. Having Cassandra spend her time in hot pants as a slave to Murphy was absolutely racist. It was absolutely mercy when 10K finally killed her character. We also had Doc end up in Red Face which absolutely horrified me and the cheapening of peyote as just another high. This is a story that I wish Z Nation had skipped altogether because of it its offensiveness and given that it didn't really significantly advance the meta, it certainly wasn't necessary. We also had a Mexican drug cartel. Yes, the cartel actually exists; however, it's telling that with the exception of Vasquez, this is the largest representation of Latino people. Even the redemption of Escorpion, which I don't believe for one minute doesn't make up for it. We also had the revelation that Addy is bisexual but it appeared in a one off episode and didn't really go anywhere. I really hope that Z Nation comes back to this.

I am glad that Warren has been functionally the leader. I love that Murphy made it clear that Vasquez isn''t allowed to boss him around and that only Warren is. Dystopians have a tendency to have White men ruling the world and it's nice to see Warren in charge. Yes, she tried to abdicate at the end of this season but given that the team is in major hot water again, I have no doubt that Warren will be back in charge when season three starts.